Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology, Staffordshire University, Leek Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DF, UK
Abstract
Although there has been a drive toward pain self-management, self-management has not yet in my opinion been successfully defined or evaluated and neither has it been consistently translated from idea to practice. In this perspective article, I identify gaps in our approach to pain management and argue that even though we know life context plays a huge role in influencing our health, by and large we fail to take this into account. I argue for a shift in focus away from the ‘self’ and explore how we might be able to do this within the constraints of our tired and over-stretched health system.